We are very pleased to publish these three poems by Donal Mahoney, who has, in the intervening time, threatened our Poetry Editor, as described in the comment stream.
for Kermit Gosnell, M.D.
Every year Dr. Gluck,
the famed gynecologist,
invites his nurses to his ranch
for his July 4th barbecue.
The nurses and their husbands
drive miles to watch the doctor
twist the necks of 20 chickens
before he dips the fowl, some
still wriggling, in a big vat
of boiling water to remove
the feathers before he tears
the legs and wings off
and places the parts
neatly on the grill.
Everyone agrees the meat
is wonderful, as is the sauce.
No knife is needed except
to butter the fresh-baked rolls.
The slaw and potato salad
have no peer, the nurses say.
They claim the same is true
of his ice cream and pecan pie.
The perfection of this feast
is no mystery, really.
Every July 4th Dr. Gluck
celebrates America and
demonstrates outdoors
the skills he's honed
indoors for 30 years.
The nurses agree, however,
the fetuses don't wriggle
as much as the chickens do
and it's nice the fetuses
go in a bucket
and not on a grill.
I wish he had never come out
from behind the stove, that spider
I stepped on at 4 a.m.
He was a big one
bothering no one.
He didn't see my foot
that hour of the morning.
Reminds me of Mrs. Grimm,
the widow next door.
She took her garbage out
at midnight Sunday.
They found her cold
in the driveway at dawn,
a bullet in her forehead.
Her children swear
she had no enemies.
Survivors of the spider
say the same
about their early riser.
Everyone knows that ours
is a quiet neighborhood.
"On the window sill
the sun's pure gold today.
Usually it's white,"
says drooling Nell,
in her hospital smock,
her tea turning cold
as she braids
ram horns of hair
high and tight
to the sides of her skull.
"On gold days
like this, I warm
my hands for hours
on this sill.
"Yesterday, the doctor said
someone should paint me,
the fool. A still life,
that's what he said."
Nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes, Donal Mahoney has had poetry and fiction published in a variety of print and electronic publications in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Some of his earliest work can be found at booksonblog12.blogspot.com.
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